Amateur football round-up: Harestanes hit for six

Harestanes suffered from the absence of a number of players as they were hit for six by Eastfield, but Campsie Minerva boosted their hopes of staying in the top flight with victory over Haldane United.

And Campsie Black Watch/Waterside enjoyed a fine victory over Division 1A leaders Dunblane Thistle.

Eastfield 6 Harestanes 1

Harestanes suffered a heavy defeat as they went down 6-1 to Cumbernauld side Eastfield on the astro at Broadwood on Sayurday.

With a number of players missing the Foster’s Central Scottish AFL Premier Division clash for various reasons, Harestanes started off with eleven men and one substitute who could not arrive until half-time.

And to make matters worse for the Kirkintilloch side, they lost McKinney with a hamstring injury and had to play with 10 men for most of the half.

Harestanes started well enough and came close to taking an early lead.

Quinn headed on, Cawley got a shot in but the ball was blocked for a corner.

McKinney then sent in a powerful strike from a Harper cross, but the effort was blocked on the Eastfield line.

At the other end Eastfield came close with a low shot which was just wide.

Back came Harestanes and McKinney again had a shot blocked on the line from a Mackie cross.

But it was Eastfield who took the lead with a pass through a sleepy defence and a low shot into the corner: a soft goal to give away.

The Cumbernauld side then went two up before the break from a cross from the right, a flick from their man in the middle and the ball settling in the left corner.

Harestanes could have gone further behind early in the second half but keeper Gill pulled out a great save as he dived to his left.

The visitors then might have pulled one back as the Eastfield keeper fumbled a Fitzsimmons’ shot. McCafferty had the chance to shoot but dallied and the chance was gone.

Fitzsimmons did score to put Harestanes back in the hunt, He got his head to a corner from Young, the ball broke out to him and he managed to bundle it over the line. But from here on in, things fell apart for Harestanes.

Eastfield scored their third with a shot from the middle of the ‘D’.

A great run through Eastfield players by Harper led to a shot from Quinn but, unfortunately for Hares, the ball hit the post.

Eastfield then added to Harestanes’ misery with another three goals to complete their excellent display.

Harestanes’ Tote: no winner, £50 rollover.

Campsie Minerva 5 Haldane United 1

Campsie Minerva boosted their hopes of staying in the top amateur league in Scotland on Saturday with a convincing 5-1 win over Premier League newcomers Haldane United.

With both sides fighting to beat the drop from the Foster’s Central Scottish AFL Premier Division, this was clearly a must win game.

And it was the visitors who looked more hungry in the first 20 minutes as Minerva struggled to find any hint of the form which had seen them recently go to the last eight in a national cup competition.

In the 15th minute Haldane took the lead when good play in the middle of the park put their striker through on goal and he placed a great shot past the despairing Paul Mylet.

However the youngster, making his debut in goal for Minerva, then had a string of great stops to keep the home side in it early on.

Minerva got back into the game on the half hour mark; a rather fortuitous penalty award was given in favour of Johnny Howat and captain Steven Mcgregor made no mistake from the spot to relieve some pressure on the home side.

Minerva seemed to rally after this and continued to dominate the remainder of the first half.

This culminated in Minerva taking the lead in the 45th minute. Good work from Graham Dempsey led to Paul Kemmit beating the visiting keeper from close range to give Minerva something to hold on to in the second half.

After the break Minerva stepped up the pace to confirm their dominance and early goals from Jonathan McWilliams and Jamie Kerr put on easy street.

However special mention has to made of Jamie Kerr who gave Minerva a fifth and final goal which will be hard to be bettered all season, a wonderful right foot strike into the top left hand corner from 20 yards.

The win cemented Minerva’s place in the Premier League for now, although their good home form will need to continue until the end of the season to see Minerva compete at the very top amateur level in next season’s campaign.

Campsie Black Watch/Waterside 3 Dunblane AFC 2

A Thomas hat-trick gave Campsie Black Watch/Waterside a very important 3-2 win over Foster’s Central Scottish AFC Division 1A leaders Dunblane Thistle.

With Station Road, home of Campsie Black Watch since 1943, once again unplayable due to a waterlogged pitch, Campsie - who have not played there since October 2016 - had to go to North Lanarkshire and hired Kilsyth Astro for th match.

Although Campsie started the better with a few good chances it was Dunblane who opened the scoring in the fifth minute when McCauley hit a great shot past keeper Storey.

Campsie were still the dominant side but after chances from Pettigrew, Aitken and Mackie they were still trailing.

However in the 25th minute the game took a turn for the worse for Dunblane when goalscorer McCauley was given a straight red for his tackle on Hannah.

There was good play from both teams but it took until the 41st minute for Campsie to level.

Aitken was through on goal and was brought down by the keeper and the penalty was calmly slotted home by Thomas.

After the break Campsie again had most of the possession but when Dunblane got the ball they looked dangerous in front of goal.

In the 51st minute a great ball in midfield from Corr found Thomas who made no mistake and put Campsie into the lead 2-1.

But to Dunblane’s credit, and also due to Campsie’s slack play, Dunblane equalised when a mistake at the back saw Gray chip the advancing keeper.

This game was now on a knife edge, but with eight minutes remaining Campsie were awarded their second penalty of the game when Thomas was through on goal but was brought down in the box.

Thomas himself stepped up to score from the spot to give himself a hat-trick and a vital three points.

Round-up

Rossvale Amateurs were 5-2 winner over Castlemilk in their Hall Cup tie.

Kirkintilloch Rob Roy under-21s won 6-0 away to local rivals Ashfield in the West of Scotland under-21 Premier League.

Scorers were Ryan Armstrong (3), Dylan Kerr, Mikey Archer and Steven Krausen.

Lenzie YC

Lenzie Youth Club are looking for playerss born in 2010/12/13 to join their soccer academy.

For details phone or text Billy Inglis on 07818 096752.

Schools football

Turnbull High School maintained their unbeaten domestic record with a 3-1 win in a vital league clash away to Bearsden Academy.

Bearsden were strong and well organised, but Turnbull took the lead midway through the first half with an outstanding free kick by Cal Connolly.

The on-form striker curled the ball around the wall to place it into the keeper’s left hand post leaving him with no chance of saving it.

Shortly afterwards The Bishopbriggs side doubled their lead, again through Connolly.

This time the striker found himself one on one with the goalkeeper and calmly slotted the ball home for his and Turnbull’s second.

The second half started in dramatic fashion as, within the first minute, Turnbull were reduced to 10 men for what was a very tight last man offence. Immediately after this Adam Gallacher produced a fantastic save to keep Turnbull’s two goal advantage.

But with Turnbull soaking up the pressure, they produced a classic counter attack which allowed Christopher McKeown to hold off two defenders before calmly slotting the ball past the onrushing keeper.

Bearsden though immediately hit back to reduce the deficit to two goals again.

Both teams continued to attack for the remainder of the game but it was Turnbull who held on to collect the three points in what was a very entertaining game in the wind and on a rain-soaked Bearsden pitch.